Behind Bars
by Kagetora no Tsume
Summary: Or, the 5 times Tauriel was locked in the dungeon overnight and the one time she was locking someone else up. Filled livejournal prompt.
1. Chapter 1

The first time she spoke out of turn, she knew that she had screwed up. Her hands had been clamped over her mouth in horror before Thranduil had even turned all the way around to glower at her.

She had been trying to convince him that she was capable of leading a patrol into the woods on her own, without Legolas or one of the other guards there to babysit her. He had, of course, shot her suggestion down immediately, and none too kindly.

And she had, of course, begun to lose her temper. She was far from incompetent, and had yet to come back from patrol unsuccessful. However, her arguments had fallen on deaf ears. He had calmly talked around her reasoning, until he finally snapped out "the woods are a dangerous place, Tauriel. You would do well to keep that in mind," and had turned his back to her, dismissing her with a wave of his hand.

The words "how would you know, you never leave the palace!" had been out of her mouth before she even had time to think about who exactly she was talking to.

Now she stood, her instincts telling her to flee while she still had all her limbs attached, with Thranduil's icy glare pinning her to the floor.

She thought for a second that he would strike her, or shout at her, but the King just stood there, his eyes seeming to pick her apart as she trembled before him.

After a long moment he straightened, turning to the door.

"Guards," he called, and Tauriel closed her eyes as the gold-plated elves stepped into the room.

"Please escort Lady Tauriel to the dungeons. She is to be locked up overnight."

He waited, watching as the guards grabbed onto her arms and began to lead her away. "Perhaps that will teach her to hold her insolent tongue."

Legolas had come to visit her that night, treating her to a stern look and a long-suffering sigh, but had stayed by her side until the morning guard brought the key to release her.


	2. Chapter 2

"-foolish, reckless behavior! And where did that get you?"

"My Lord, it is barely a scratch," Tauriel said through gritted teeth, one hand clenched into a fist at her side and the other cradled in a sling across her front. The once white cloth was stained pink at her shoulder, the color growing darker lower down as the blood leeched through the weave. Her upper arm had been bound tightly, but even that could not fully stop the bleeding.

Her wound was not, in fact, a scratch, and had nearly taken off her arm.

And they were both well aware of that.

Lord Thranduil turned a chilling glare on her, looking pointedly at her arm, and Tauriel could not hold his gaze.

"Did you give even a moment's thought to what would happen if you were attacked?" he started once again, pacing before his throne like a caged animal.

"My Lord, I-"

"Who was it that gave you permission to leave? Alone and unguarded, and _after dark_ at that!?"

"I am perfectly capable of-"

"Clearly, you are not. You will be banned from guard duty for a month, and forbidden from carrying arms for a week. You are not to leave your room-"

"That is not fair!"

"Do not speak to me of fairness!"

Tauriel recoiled sharply as the King whirled on her, his robes flying out behind him as he closed the distance in two long steps.

"You ran out on your own, almost got yourself killed, and risked the lives of my guards in doing so. What right have you to lecture me about fairness, when I have to put others at risk because you decided to play the hero and slay spiders on your own?"

" _One_ of us has to do something about them," she spat.

The silence that followed was palpable, and Tauriel became increasingly aware of the pounding of her heart in the stillness. She found that she could not hold his burning glare for more than a few seconds, and dropped her gaze to the stones beneath her feet.

After what seemed like forever, Thranduil raised an arm and Tauriel flinched away on instinct, but he was merely summoning the guards that had escorted her here to his side.

"Have her brought to the dungeon. She will spend the duration of her house arrest in a cell. The healers may go down to see her but she is not to be released until I command it," he growled. Tauriel did not meet his eyes as she was led away.


	3. Chapter 3

She hadn't meant to shout. She really hadn't.

But the only thing that Tauriel was more notorious for than her fighting skills was her temper, and she had simply lost control over it.

She had wanted to see what was beyond the forest, to visit Laketown where the mortal village of men lived on the icy waters, or the other side of the forest, where a wide grasslands spread for as far as the eye could see and the misty mountains were said to rise into the sky on the horizon. She had lived for almost three hundred years in their woodland kingdom, but had yet to cross the borders, to see the outside world. She longed to be free to explore, but her King would not allow it.

Lord Thranduil was loathe to let anyone wander outside of his realm's immediate borders, and apparently, that rule very specifically applied to her.

"There is naught but ruin and death out there, young Tauriel. Do not be a fool. There is nothing for you in the rest of the world."

"There is no reason to assume that! Do our brethren in Lorien and Rivendell not live out there in peace and prosperity?"

"I have given my answer, and I expect you to heed it. You are not to cross the borders of this kingdom. That order has been given to all of my subjects, and you are not to exclude yourself from it."

"Why keep your people locked away like prisoners? What wrong have we done to be treated as criminals and confined?!"

He had stopped, then, mid-step, and Tauriel felt a chill come over her as he slowly turned to face her. Swallowing thickly, she looked away as his eyes came to rest on her, and hoped that he had perhaps not heard her outburst. But how could he not have, when she could still hear her own voice echoing back mockingly from about the chamber?

"Most of my people are content to live in safety and comfort. The only ones that need to be locked away are the ones that seek their own ruin, and that of the people around them," he hissed. "Guards!"

She knew what was coming, and hung her head, cheeks flushed with embarrassment as footsteps echoed behind her and a pair of golden gauntlets landed roughly on her shoulders.

"Please lock Lady Tauriel in the dungeon overnight. Perhaps," he said, now piercing her with his icy gaze, "this will serve to remind you the extent of the freedom that you have been granted in my kingdom."


	4. Chapter 4

"Dumb blonde?" Legolas seethed as he paced - no, _stalked_ \- outside her cell, and she could only hang her head to hide the red burning across her cheeks. "Do you have a death wish, Tauriel?"

"I...I had not meant to say it aloud-"

"Yet you did!" He whirled to face her, glaring fiercely for a long minute, before letting out a long sigh and crouching beside the bars. "You are lucky that my father merely had you locked up for a week. You could be _banished_ for that kind of treason talk!"

"I am well aware," she muttered, kicking her foot in the dust of what was starting to become an uncomfortably familiar cell.

"Why, why, _why_ do you keep doing this?" he asked.

Tauriel shrugged.

"We don't get along."

He snorted at that, and she found the corner of her mouth quirking up at the highly un-princely gesture. After a moment Legolas let out a long sigh, turning, and sat with his back leaned against the bars of her cell. They were both quiet for a while, Tauriel picking absently at a loose thread on her tunic and Legolas staring up into the heavens as if praying for patience.

"Where did you even hear such an expression?" he asked at last, apparently having given up on his lecture. They were both well aware of how effective those had ever been in deterring her behavior.

"When supplies last came in, I overheard some talk. Apparently it is a phrase amongst humans, attributing foolishness to the hair color."

"I hope that you are not implying anything about me..." Legolas said teasingly, and Tauriel turned to drape her arms through the bars of her cell, wrapping them about his shoulders in a hug.

"Never. You are the most clever person I know," she assured him. "Your _father_ on the other hand-"

"Tauriel..." he said in exasperation, and she giggled.

"I jest."

"You are going to get yourself killed one of these days," he muttered. "For my sake, I do wish that you wouldn't try to anger my father."

"I will try to hold my tongue. I promise."

He chuckled, reaching a hand up to weave their fingers together.

"We are both well aware that isn't going to happen."


	5. Chapter 5

Tauriel's patience was growing thin. Her life as of recent had become a cycle of "yes, my Lord, we cleared the spiders" and "they keep coming back, my Lord, from Dol Goldur" and "if we could clear them at the source, my Lord-", but it never got any further than that. Lord Thranduil was determined to have nothing to do with the foul ruins, even if it could mean freeing their woods of the filth that crept from there to infect it. She was stalking back and forth in front of him, a habit she had picked up to keep her feet moving extraneously so that her tongue would not.

He currently stood with his back to her, sipping at a chalice of Dorwinion, and she took a deep breath to calm herself before she spoke again.

"The spiders are coming from Dol Goldur, My Lord. My scouts have tracked them back there, and it is the definite source. Would it not be better to attack once and destroy the source than to risk our warriors every day in small skirmishes and ambushes in the woods?"

"No. There is a great evil upon those ruins and as I have told you before, I will not risk the lives of any of my people on what is sure to be a worthless quest."

"Then the spiders will continue to invade, no matter how many times we clear them from our trees," she said, her tone sharpening with annoyance.

" Perhaps you should be a bit more thorough with your sweeps."

"My guards are thorough, the spiders are not coming from within the woods," she growled. "We need to strike at Dol Goldur if we are to-"

"I have told you already, I will not endanger my warriors on a foolish quest to that accursed place," he snapped, dismissing her with a sharp wave of his hand. Tauriel felt her pulse burning in her throat as anger swept through her.

"And I will not sit and watch as this forest is dragged into darkness because you are afraid!" she shouted. Thranduil visibly stiffened, and she felt a chill wash over her.

Too far.

"Good day, my Lord," she mumbled, turning to flee before the extent of his rage locked onto her. She had almost made it to the door when he spoke.

" _Tauriel_."

Her name was spoken in a low growl, the threat clear beneath the word, and she froze in place, her back to the throne. She heard the rustle of his fine robes as he turned slowly, set her jaw as she heard his footsteps coming toward her.

"M-my Lord?"

A hand grabbed her upper arm roughly, and she had to choke back a cry of surprise and fright when she turned to see Lord Thranduil leaned close, half of his face showing the scars from what had once been horrid burns. She had heard rumor that he kept up a glamor to mask his appearance, but she had not known what was beneath. Until now.

The flesh was the angry red of a new wound, burned and melted away to clearly show sinew and bone. His cheek was all but hollow, and the eye was white and sightless. She tried to recoil, but his grip was too strong, and he only leaned closer.

"Do not presume what you do not know," he hissed, his grip keeping her firmly rooted in place, despite her wanting nothing more than to escape. "There is great evil in this world, of a kind that you are not _capable_ of imagining."

He leaned closer, and she could feel herself trembling.

"You are not to speak to me of this subject again. Am. I. Clear?"

It took a long second for her voice to work, but at last she was able to gasp out a shaky "yes My Lord" and Thranduil let her go.

This time she did flee. Propriety be damned, she _ran_ to the double doors that led to the throne room, pushing them open and stumbling into the relative safety of the hallway.

"Guards?" Thranduil called from behind her, his voice calm and his face emotionless when she glanced over her shoulder, his glamor back in place. "Lock her in the dungeons for the night. I will not tolerate impertinence."


	6. Chapter 6

"Aren't you going to search me? There could be anything down my trousers," the dwarf said, blinking up at her with an innocent curiosity that was clearly fake but well practiced.

"Or nothing," she replied, motioning for him to enter the cell - _her_ cell, as a matter of fact - before she shut and closed the door. How strange it was, she mused, to be on this side of the bars once the lock was in place. To see someone else's eyes staring out, pathetic and guilty but without regret.

This dwarf was talkative, unlike his companions, and she couldn't help but feel a twinge of camaraderie as he said just the _wrong_ thing for the situation at hand. How many times had that been her? Instead of getting frustrated with the dwarf for his teasing, she felt something warm inside of her flutter around. And it most certainly didn't have anything to do with that half-smirk of a smile he was looking after her with.

Legolas was eying the dwarf suspiciously, as if he could smell her brand of trouble emanating from him.

"Why does the dwarf stare at you, Tauriel?"

"How should I know?" she shrugged. Then she let one corner of her mouth quirk up slightly. "He is rather tall for a dwarf, don't you think?" she asked innocently, and tried not to smile when Legolas gave her a glare.

"Taller, perhaps, but no less ugly," he called after her as she took the stairs from the dungeons. Her meeting with Lord Thranduil was rather civil today, but seeing as all of the cells were currently occupied, she doubted that her sharp tongue would have gotten her much more than a lecture. To her surprise, her report wound up as a lecture anyway...about the nature of Legolas' affection for her. When she finally escaped her king's presence, she found the blonde prince leaned against the wall in a decidedly bored fashion, waiting for her. He stood, matching her pace as she walked past.

"No arguments then? Usually I hear a bit more screaming when you meet with my father," he teased.

"He rented my room out," she shrugged, returning his smile. "What would he have done with me had I shouted?"

"He might have locked you in there _with_ the dwarf."

She laughed out loud at that.

"And I'm sure the two of us would have had a high time ranting about your father's manners...or lack thereof."

Legolas chuckled.

"I don't doubt you would. You going to be at the party? Or are you expected on prison duty?"

"Prison duty," she grimaced. Legolas put a hand on her shoulder comfortingly.

"I'll sneak you down some Dorwinion, and try to see if I can't keep myself awake until you get off duty. After all, what kind of celebration would it be if I did not offer my best friend what every young girl wants?"

"And what is that?" she asked with a grin.

"A dance with the Prince, of course." He made a grand show of drawing his heels together with a click and sweeping his arm out in a deep bow.

"There _are_ two princes in the dungeon..." she said with an innocent shrug. Legolas made a face up at her, still mid-bow.

"If you don't mind dancing through bars, while bent almost double to account for the height difference."

"If you plan to stay like that all night, the only difference would be the bars," she countered with a smile.

Legolas' pose deflated as he broke into laughter, and Tauriel soon joined him.

"Off with you, then," he said once he had caught his breath, waving a hand weakly in her direction. "Go march around and intimidate the dwarves."

"I'll enjoy being on the opposite side of the bars for once. Hope you don't mind if I steal your usual seat."

"What? No, that stair is _mine_ ," Legolas said in mock horror. Tauriel elbowed him good-naturedly as she passed, turning onto the path that led to the dungeons.

This was going to be an interesting night for sure.


End file.
